Blog Archives

In this episode, things get super-hairy just minutes before deadline, and friends are called in. This may be the one time revision is just no fun…unless wine’s involved. You can read the short story “Mujina” in Dark Passages II: Tales from the Black Highway. Get it at http://bit.ly/DP2Mujina.

For me, being a writer means always studying other media—film, music, art, whatever. One of my favorite things to do is attend DAMNATIONLAND—a horror film festival which showcases short films by independent Maine filmmakers. I probably did more partying than studying…but come take the ride with me! Watch This Writing Life Episode 10: Damnationland here: https://youtu.be/1ro3aNkm89M

In this episode, we jam the Snowbound: with Zombies release event into a full weekend! Snowbound: with Zombies is a collection of scary stories by several New England writers, and 100% of the proceeds benefits the Whittier Birthplace Museum in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Available in both print and Kindle. Get it here: http://bit.ly/SnowboundPrint (Kindle link posted on that page too). Oh…and we also find a cool Cracker Barrel.

Don’t know much about Whittier but want to? I recommend The Poetry of John Greenleaf Whittier: A Reader’s Edition, edited by William Jolliff.

There’s now a second collection for mystery lovers! If you love mysteries, give back to the community and pick up Murder Among Friends (which contains my story “The Cricket in the Wall”) here: http://bit.ly/MAFCricket

So…writers are thinking. All the time. How do we turn that off? Here’s one way to do it on Episode 8: Total Brain Erasure! You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/68NnQlQahm0

Keep in mind that just about any location you love that gets you to relax and focus on other activities besides writing will work. While I’ll say the vacation was incredibly effective in turning off my brain–as most Disney vacations are for me–I will say that cutting down the several hours of video I had while trying to tell an effective story in under five minutes was more than just a little challenging! Have fun!

In the latest episode of This Writing Life, Stacey Longo and I hit the road for New Hampshire, where we will be featured on an episode of the YouTube series The Taco Society. Some things we do as writers are more play than work (fighting with cocktail swords comes to mind) … and damn, green screens are cool!

Toasting to a job well done following the taping of The Taco Society Episode 12!

The Taco Society is a crew of writers (Tony Tremblay, Philip Perron, Sydney Leigh and Gardner Goldsmith) who interview other writers of dark fiction. Some episodes also feature readings of the writers’ work. You can check them out on their channel here.

Getting gussied up…writer Sydney Leigh brought us the coolest nail art to put on before the interview! Writer Stacey Longo checks it out.

It’s often thought that writers love solitude. I can safely say that we do…when it’s appropriate and we need to work. But then there’s this other part of the writing life called socializing–when it’s with other writers especially, it can profoundly inspire.

In Episode 6: Hangin’ with Sasquatch, we surprise writer Andrea Schicke Hirsch with a release party for her YA novel Sasquatch (which you can purchase here!) In Episode 7: Words at a Wedding, the partying leads to some new projects on the horizon.

Yeah, I know, running behind again…two weeks in Texas, three to catch my breath, then off to Disney just about killed me and I’m still catching up. But at least summer’s here!

This Writing Life Episode 5: Ups and Downs was supposed to be released in May, but it just didn’t happen. That said, here it is now…if you’re not happy with your writing life right now, maybe this’ll give you some hope. Enjoy!

Episode 4 of my sometimes-web series, This Writing Life, is now posted! It’s about creating authentic settings…but I think this might really just be a lot of food porn? Check it out and judge for yourself…watch it here.

I know, it’s been awhile since you’ve heard about This Writing Life. Even though I have a blast doing it, it’s too big a project to do on a weekly basis, so now it’s once a month (or maybe twice — either way that’s great, since I have nine future episodes in the can already and by the time I use those up I should have more).